This paper briefly presents the motivation and objectives of two current projects in the area of harmonisation of risk-informed decision making in which the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (DG JRC) is involved: ARAMIS (Accidental Risk Assessment Methodology for IndustrieS) and Compass for Risk Management. ARAMIS will be launched at the end of 2001 under the 5th EU framework research program and the Compass project is currently considered for submission under the 6th program. The scope of application is accidental risks from the chemical process industries of the "Seveso type" (i.e. industries that fall under the legal requirements of the EU "Seveso II Directive" 96/82/EC-ARAMIS) and accidental risks from technologies in general (Compass). 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.